A few things Alabama players said about hurdles, tattoos hurting, shotgun snaps

And now, it's time for a few quick hitters from Alabama football interviews on Ole Miss Monday.

Four players came up to chat with the distinguished press corps in Tuscaloosa. Here are a few notable or funny things said this time:

-- Deionte Thompson had good things to say about starting safety Xavier McKinney. He said the sophomore has matured a lot this year. "He's a leader. He gets the calls across the board to everybody. Me and him do a good job communicating and I'm proud of the progress that he's making."

-- Tattoos are not Thompson's thing. "It looks painful but I ain't a big tattoo guy. I got two when I got here and I'm not going back."

-- A few players were impressed with Najee Harris' hurdles but Thompson had the response of a veteran. "I'd prefer he just stay on the ground, just because I don't want any freak accidents out there. But he does what he has to do."

-- Nose tackle Quinnen Williams said the communication has been strong on the defensive side with prominent voices like Deionte Thompson, Mack Wilson and Dylan Moses.

-- Williams on Najee Harris hurdles: "Najee's a freak. You might not know what he's going to do. He's a freak."

-- And the 300-plus pound Williams dreams of his own leaping moment one day. "I'd hurdle a quarterback. Raekwon Davis, he caught an interception in the Georgia game and the quarterback hit him low. That's one of the moments I would've hurdled."

-- DeVonta Smith is sharp answering questions. Asked if he sees green grass ahead, does it make it more difficult to catch, his answer was Amari Cooper-like. "Well, I mean, if you're looking back at the ball, you can't see the grass in front of you."

-- Smith hurdled someone in high school but said it's dangerous.

-- Ross Pierschbacher is two games into his time as the starting center. I asked him how his shotgun snaps have gone. So far, he said, no complaints. He doesn't really know how it looks in the moment so he relies on the QBs for feedback if it's too high or too low. Nobody said anything so far.

-- Pierschbacher was around for the last trip to Oxford when it felt like a million degrees for the 2:30 p.m. kickoff. He remembers. "It rained right before warmups. Sun came out. Humid, hot game. Weren't we down a bunch then had to come back or something like that? Then we rattled off a bunch of points. It's always a battle with Ole Miss. Their fans are really going to get into it. It's going to be a great game."